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Pooled review (meta-analysis)

Pooled review of 16 studies: better memory scores, but no gain in overall thinking

Xu and colleagues · Frontiers in nutrition · 2024

Original title: The effects of creatine supplementation on cognitive function in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Mixed

Memory scores were better with creatine (SMD = 0.31, 95% CI: 0.18-0.44). Attention time and processing speed also improved. Overall cognitive function and executive function did not improve. Certainty was moderate for memory and low for the rest.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Pooled review (meta-analysis)
Who or what was studied
16 studies, 492 people · healthy adults and adults with some diseases, aged 20.8 to 76.4
What was tested
Creatine monohydrate pills compared with placebo, from under 4 weeks to longer
What it measured
The question itself: memory, thinking and brain health
Who has a stake
No stake declared
No competing interests declared.
Journal
Frontiers in nutrition, 2024
Source
PubMed record 39070254. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Pools the results of 16 studies with 492 people.
  • •A pooled review is only as strong as the studies it pools.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: memory, thinking and brain health.
  • ✓No competing interests declared.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

This paper is not on the ladder. It is a pooled review (meta-analysis), and reviews and opinion pieces discuss studies that are already counted on the steps below.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: memory and thinking

    5

    2 benefit, 1 mixed, 2 no difference

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    6

    5 benefit, 1 mixed

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  4. Population studies

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  6. Animals

    1

    1 benefit

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does creatine improve memory and brain health?”

Possibly a small boost to memory.

Confidence: low. Based on 21 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer
  • Quoted in “What we found”: A pooled review of sixteen trials with 492 adults found memory scores were a little better with creatine (SMD = 0.31). Overall thinking and executive function did not improve.
  • Part of the finding “Pooled reviews point to slightly better memory”.
  • Part of the finding “Reviews disagree on who gains most”.
  • Summed up in “What reviews found”: Pooled sixteen trials with 492 adults, healthy or with diseases. Creatine improved memory (SMD = 0.31), attention time and processing speed, but not overall thinking or executive function. Certainty was moderate for memory and low for the rest.
  • Marked as a key paper in the research timeline: Biggest pooled review: sixteen trials, 492 adults.
  • Open item for a person: Pooled reviews Xu 2024 and Prokopidis 2023 may include the same trials as each other and as trials listed here; avoid counting overlap twice.

Other reviews on this question

See all 21 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The reviewer corrected 1 field after reading the abstract. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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